From staff reports

STATESVILLE—  Carson’s boys basketball team weathered torrid shooting by Statesville in the first quarter and came back to beat the Greyhounds, 72-61, on Friday to stay on top in the North Piedmont Conference.

“We were concerned about this one because Statesville has been playing really well,” Carson coach Brian Perry said. “Then they came out scoring like crazy and really jumped on us —  3-pointers, offensive rebounds, getting to the rim, you name it.”

Carson was down 28-18 after a quarter and had star Jamarius Hairston limited by foul trouble.

Still, the Cougars came back behind the shooting of Owen White (four 3-pointers, 20 points) and the drives and clutch free throws of Jailen Williams (27 points, 11-for-12 free throws).

Perry said D.J. Dunn, getting a lot more minutes off the bench than usual, was big filling in for Hairston, who managed nine points and surpassed 1,500 for his career.

Statesville led 40-34 at the break.   Carson slowed down Statesville in the second half with a 2-3  zone, caught up and slowly took control.

“Playing against a really hot team on the road, I liked the way we kept our composure and just kept battling,” Perry said. “Even with Jamarius having to sit for a big part of the game, we came out of there with a big-time win.”

Cole Perry scored 10 for the Cougars (19-2, 7-1).

Jeremiah Mott  led the Greyhounds (11-10, 5-3)  with 15 points.

CARSON (72) — Williams 27, White 20, Perry 10, Hairston 9, Dunn 4, Prugh 2, Sifford, Hales.

STATESVILLE (61) — Mott 15, Davis 13, Gaines 12, Gathings 9, Knox 9, Moore 3.

Carson        18    16   19   19   — 72

Statesville   28   12    7    14  — 61

North boys

MISENHEIMER — North Rowan’s boys overpowered Gray Stone for a Yadkin Valley Conference win on Friday.

The second-place Cavaliers (12-8, 11-3) led 25-2 after a quarter and were rolling 44-13 by halftime. They romped, 71-25.

North got 19 points from  Dayjuwon Cooke, 13 from Brevin Goodlett and 10 from Quintous  Smith Jr. and kept pace with the rest of the upper tier in the YVC. Nick Colson made three 3-pointers.

NORTH (71) — Cooke 19, Goodlett 13, Q. Smith 10,  Colson 9, Stoner 6, Goodes 5,  Davis 3, Page 3, Clement 2, Broaddus 1

GRAY STONE (25) — Castellan 7, Overcash 4, Whitesell 3, Broadway 3, Almond 3, Visconi 2, Tuzeneu 2.

N. Rowan       25   19   13   14   — 71

Gray Stone     2   11   9     3   —   25

East boys

GRANITE QUARRY —  East Rowan ran into a red-hot South Iredell team and lost  67-47 in North Piedmont Conference play on Friday.

South Iredell made eight 3-pointers in the first half and 12 for the game. South Iredell (16-5, 6-2) led 33-22 at halftime.

“We knew they could shoot the ball, we contested, and they still hit deep contested shots,” East coach Kurt Misenheimer said. “The hardest part about guarding them is they have four and sometimes five guys on the floor who can hit the 3-pointer.  We held their top scorer (Cory Gaither) to seven points, but others stepped up.  They are a very good team.”

  Brandon Jefferson had his best offensive game since November for East (8-14, 1-7)  with 17 points, but it wasn’t enough. Trevor Scruggs added nine.

“We need numbers from Brandon like that every game, and he’s very capable of doing that,” Misenheimer said. “Scruggs gave us a lift, hit some big shots. The other guys had plenty of open looks, but  just couldn’t get them to fall.”

East got off to a solid start, but South Iredell outscored the Mustangs, 20-7, in the game-turning second quarter and went on from there.

Greg Liechty led the Vikings with 19 points, Brady Pope had 16, and Ty Everhart scored 10.

S. IREDELL (67) — Liechty 19, Pope 16, Everhart 10, Gaither 7, Hall 4, Dulin 4, Dowdy 3, Oglietti 2.

EAST (47)— Jefferson 17, Scruggs 9, Hinceman 6, Hooper 6, Bennett 4, Sprinkle 3, Walker 2.

S.Iredell    13    20   16   18  — 67

E. Rowan  15    7     11   14    — 47

Salisbury boys

THOMASVILLE — The Salisbury boys got a career game from post man Lonnie Rogers (24 points, 12 rebounds) and breezed to a 77-58 win at East Davidson on Friday.

The Hornets led 50-38 at the break and won for the seventh straight time.

Salisbury (19-2, 15-1) already had clinched the CCC championship.

Elijah Moss hit five 3-pointers for the Hornets.

Trell Baker stuffed the stat sheet for 10 points, seven assists and six steals.

Oshaun Robinson and Jaquan Davis scored eight each.

CoCo Jones scored 19 for the Golden Eagles (4-17, 3-13). Kobie Warrick had 17, and Eli Jacobs scored 15.

SALISBURY (77) — Rogers 24, Moss 15, Baker 10, Davis 8, Robinson 8, Sloan 6, Gill 4, Fisher 2.

E. DAVIDSON (58) — Jones 19, Warrick 17, Jacobs 15, Hilbourn 3, Tippett 2, Brower 2.

Salisbury            24   26   15   12    — 77

E. Davidson      22    16   12   8    — 58

West boys

MOUNT ULLA — Caleb Mauldin scored 24 points and West Rowan handled last-place North Iredell , 63-47, for a North Piedmont Conference win on Friday.

Mauldin has surpassed 500 points for the season and is approaching 2,000 for his career.

Payne Stolsworth’s outside shooting added 15 points for the Falcons (12-10, 5-3).

Travis Wilcox led the Raiders (4-10, 0-8), and Blake Barzee had 15.

West led by 10 after the first quarter and stretched that advantage to 34-21 at the break.

NORTH IREDELL (47) — Wilcox 17, Brazee 15, Ross 8, Highman 5, Williams 2.

WEST ROWAN (63) — Mauldin 24, Stolsworth 15. Joseph 6, Sproul 6, Brawley 4, Dixon 3, Tadlock 3, Hassard 2, Myers, AJ Mauldin, Ford.

N. Iredell   8   13   10   16 — 47

W. Rowan 18  16  11   18 — 63

Carson girls

STATESVILLE — Carson’s girls struggled with foul trouble, but Olivia Gabriel scored 21 points and Colbie Perry made five 3-pointers in a 58-47 win at Statesville.

Carson starters McKenzie Gadson and Lani Isley got in early foul trouble, and the Cougars trailed 16-14 after a quarter.

But Carson started turning things around in the second quarter and led 29-26 at halftime.

“We started slowly and we had some adversity to play  through, but we didn’t get rattled,” Carson coach Brooke Stouder said. “Olivia really controlled the game. Colbie stepped up to make key shots.  Ellie Wilhelm was really huge on the boards. Taylor Conrad played great defense.”

Carson (19-3, 6-2) got some help from West Rowan’s win against North Iredell and moved into a  three-way tie for first with the Falcons and Raiders.

“It was  a good win for us — and a good night for us,” Stouder said.

Gadson, a junior, bumped her career scoring total to 971.

Statesville (13-8, 4-4) is in fourth place in the NPC. J’kyla Miller led the Greyhounds with 16 points, while Danasia Gray scored 13.

CARSON (58) — Gabriel 21, Perry 17, Cooper 5, Gadson 5, Wilhelm 4, Isley 2, Conrad 2, Turney 2, Shumaker, Wiggins.

STATESVILLE (47) — Miller 16, Gray 13, Sharpe 7, Keaton 6, Privette 3, Shell 2.

Carson       14    15    14   15  — 58

Statesville  16   10   13   8 —  47

North girls

MISENHEIMER — North Rowan’s girls put up  a fight against league-leading  Gray Stone on Friday before falling to the Knights, 53-40, in Yadkin Valley Conference play.

Laurie Fogleman and Lillie Austin scored 11 each for the Knights (16-4, 12-1).

North (5-16, 4-10) got 11 from Myanna Hillie and nine each from Natavia Taborn and Bea Connor.

NORTH (40) — Hillie 11, Taborn 9, Connor 9, Sherrill 3, Robinson 3, Cain 2, McDaniel 2, Reid 1, Robbins, Shoaf, Sifford.

GRAY STONE (53) — Austin 11, Fogleman 11, Mabry 9, McLeod 9, Payne 6, Mock 4, Cagle 2, Disser 1.

North Rowan          15   5   8  12   — 40

Gray Stone            16  11  12  14   — 53

East girls

GRANITE QUARRY —  East Rowan’s girls lost at home to South Iredell, 57-31 on Friday in North Piedmont Conference action.

“It’s just a struggle for us to score,” East coach Kevin Holland said.

Grace Eagle scored 11 for the Mustangs (5-17, 0-8), while Adalie Harrison had seven.

Sarah Nelson scored 16 for the Vikings (5-16, 2-6), while Lydia Mercer added 12.

S. IREDELL (57) — Nelson 16, Mercer 12, Labelle 6, Kimmel 6, Bassinger 4, Heiligenthaler 4, Goodrum 3, Durham 2, Knapp 2, Bell 2.

EAST (31) —  Eagle 11, A. Harrison 7, Winford 4, Houpe 4, Mitchell 3, Fraley 2, H. Harrison.

S. Iredell  —   17  17   14  9 — 57

E. Rowan  —     8    7    5    11  — 31

SPC girls

Akeena Maxwell and Debrisha Campbell led A.L. Brown’s girls with seven points each in a 47-34 loss to Northwest Cabarrus on Friday.

•••

Nevaeh Brown scored 28 points to lead Central Cabarrus to a 54-43 win against Concord  on Friday.

Aniyah Tate added 15 for the Vikings.

Alexis Clark led the Spiders with 10 points.

JV girls

Carson won against Statesville, 44-39, on Friday.

Tate Barger, Jaden Vaughn and Liza Simmerson scored eight apiece for Carson. Defensive standouts for Carson were Krystal Sanns and Victoria Post.

Jasmyn Misner  led the Greyhounds with 12.

4A girls

Hickory Ridge rolled against Butler, 59-37, on Friday.

Jiera Shears led the Bulls (20-1, 12-0) with 16 points and five assists.

The Bulls clinched the  SW4A Conference championship.

CCC girls

Lexi Bryant scored 21 points to lead North Davidson to 44-40 win against Central Davidson on Friday.

Desara Hunt had 15 for the Spartans, and Mikayla Sink scored 14.

CPC boys

Connor Sparrow scored 14 points to lead East Forsyth to a 68-45 win against Reagan on Friday.

•••

Michael Walton scored 19 and led Davie County (15-6, 6-2) past Glenn, 65-54, on Friday. Cooper Wall and Owen McCormack scored 11 each.

CCC boys

Themus Fulks scored 21 points to lead North Davidson to a 73-47 win against Central Davidson on Friday.

Satchel Hester scored 16, and Mason Everhart had 14.

David Banner led the Spartans with 18 points.

Catawba baseball

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Palm Beach Atlantic banged out 15 hits off of five Catawba pitchers here Friday night, winning 11-0 in college baseball action.

Catawba falls to 0-2 on its season-opening, four-game Florida trip, also losing on Thursday to Nova Southeastern, 8-5. The Indians play at Lynn University today at 1 o’clock before battling Nova again on Sunday.

Mikhail Cazenave fired three-hit ball over six innings for the Sailfish, striking out eight batters. The game was PB Atlantic’s season-opener.

Jake Summey and Ryan Johnson led PB Atlantic with three hits each, while Kyle Simon had two, including a two-run homer in the sixth inning off of Sawyer Strickland.

The Sailfish led, 5-0, after two innings and then broke the game open with a four-run sixth.

The Indians were limited to just five singles for the game — one each from Chance Bowden, Heath Mitchem, Cameron Morrison, Jackson Raper and Jacob Nester.

Bryan Ketchie suffered the loss on the mound, allowing five hits and four runs in an inning and two-thirds.

Catawba                  000  000  000 — 0    5    3

Palm Beach Atl.     230  004  02x — 11   15   0

WP — Cazenave (1-0).  LP — Ketchie (0-1).

HR — PB Atl: Simon.

Cal Ripken baseball

China Grove Cal Ripken League early bird sign-ups are $75 through Feb.16.

From Feb. 17-24, the cost is $85.

Sign up at Dale’s Sporting Goods at 106 South Main Street, China Grove.

Down Under games 

Carson cross country runner Taylor Conrad, West Rowan cross country’s Megyn Spicer and Thomas Waldo and West track and field’s Jalen Houston  have been invited to represent North Carolina and the U.S. in competition in Australia.

While it’s an honor, it’s also an expensive undertaking. None of them have plans to make the summer trip at this time.

College hoops 

Livingstone is at home against Winston-Salem State today, while  Catawba is on the road at Anderson.

Catawba baseball plays Lynn in Florida.